Flight of the Beet Wagon (FTL AAR).

[Syt]

FTL (Faster Than Light) is out for 9 USD.

In the game, you're a small Federation ship, fleeing the evil Rebellion. You have to make your way through several sectors of space before reaching safety. Each jump generates a random encounter, based on which part of space you're in. It may be a trading post, pirates, and opportunity to help people, the Rebels, or any other thing. I have no idea how repetitive these will become.

At the heart of the game are battle encounters. You have a variety of base systems (navigation, engines, weapons, shields, life support, med bay) with additional upgrades available in trading posts (transporters, cloaking devices, better weapons/reactors etc.). You can send your crew to increase a system's efficiency (or repair it), and have a few subsystems as well (e.g. internal sensors or door controls (useful for venting fire into space)). The action can be paused anytime to give new orders. You can also unlock different ship designs for future playthroughs. You start out with the minimum crew of three, and the most basic of systems and weapons.

After a first futile attempt (made it to third sector where my crew was wiped out by alien boarding commandos), this is my second attempt at the game.



The Flight of the F.S.S. Beet Wagon


The Federation is under attack by evil Rebels! Data vital to the survival of the Federation have been put into the memory banks of the Federation Star Ship Beet Wagon, commanded by Cpt. Tamas and manned by Cmd. Martinus and Lt. Alexandru.

Together they have to brave the vastness of space, trying to flee their Rebel pursuers and making it to safety!





Jump 1.

The Beet Wagon follows a distress call. A small research station is burning. They crew tries to aid the scientists but only manage to keep the fire long enough at bay for the station's crew to abandon the installation. Still, 20 scrap items are bestowed on us. We use the parts to increase the power output of our reactor. Warp Beet ahead!


Jump 2.

We come across a peaceful planet. There's a trade depot, but we don't have enough scrap parts to do any meaningful trading. How will we ever be able to afford a cloaking device?


Jump 3.

We come out of hyperspace in an asteroid field. As if that weren't bad enough, there's an automated rebel sentry ship here. We have to fight our way out!



We bring the weapons online and target their shield and weapons systems. Also, Martinus is ordered to the engine room in the rear of the ship to increase our chances of evading enemy fire. Alexadru mans the weapons systems to increase our firing rate.

The sentry wouldn't be a match for us, but the asteroids pound us. Our med station goes offline, and our shield generator is damaged. Alexandru is ordered to go and repair the shield generator.

We win the day, but our piloting console is offline, meaning we can't make the hump to safety just yet. Additionally, we have a hull breach from an asteroid in the starboard airlock. Tamas has been wounded when his console blew up.



Action plan:
- Tamas repairs the navigational systems so we can jump out of the asteroids a.s.a.p.
- Alexandru keeps repairing the shields, then the hull breach.
- Mart repairs the med bay, so Tamas and Alexandru (who will suffer while working in vacuum) can be healed.



The plan works, and we can make the jump out before any further damage is sustained.

[Tamas]

 

[Syt]

Jump 4.

W come across a damaged space station. They offer to give us scrap parts in exchange for drone parts. Unfortunately, we have not enough drone parts for them, and we continue our journey.


Jump 5.

We come out in proximity to a sun. The flares can cause us serious damage. A Rebel robo-sentry is here. It's shielded from the heat and attacks!

We should get out of here a.s.a.p.!

A direct hit takes our Burst Laser offline, but we have destroyed their weapon systems as well. Alexandru brings our lasers back online and the sentry is gone.

The sun flares and a fire erupts behind the bridge. Cpt. Tamas ponders venting the affected area into sace, but that would affect most of the starboard side of the ship. Alexandru is ordered to take care of the fire while Tamas frantically makes the calculations for the next hyperjump.

To avoid the next flare we jump out before Alexandru has put out the fire.


Jump 6.

No sun flares, no asteroids - but another Rebel sentry!

It powers up its engines, trying to get information of our location to the Rebel fleet!

Alexandru sucks at putting out the fire - it spreads to the internal sensors and remote door controls. Tamas tries to help, but he sees no other options. He returns to the bridge and sends Alexandru, who has suffered severe burns, into the engine room.

Then he vents the affected rooms. Martinus, meanwhile, mans the weapons stations, trying to disable the Rebel ship before it can make the hyperjump.



A missile hit finishes off the internal sensors, meaning we have no idea when the fire has gone out, or the rooms are safe to enter again once the fire is out, and the life support tries to make them habitable again.



Speaking of which - we manage to kill of the sentry, but not before another missile takes out our life support.

We have some time for repairs:
1. Life support
2. Closing off the vented parts of the ship.
3. Wait.
4. Bring internal sensors back online.
5. Patch up the crew.
6. Jump out.

[Tamas]

Solar flares are tough!

I suggest Cpt. Tamas upgrades the doors to blast doors, that will contain fires!

[Syt]

Jump 6, supplemental.

We've also lost remote door control. So we'll have to repair them first before we can make the starboard side habitable again. Of course, the door control is now also in the vacuum of space, so the guys will have to take turns repairing it, patching up in between.

It turns out one alone can't do it. Tamas and Mart repair the door controls together. Then they lock off the ship again while Alexandru sees if he can improve the life support efficiency a bit. While waiting, they also apply some scrap parts to life support to increase the speed with which it makes the vented rooms friendly to human visitors again.

Eventually, the repairs are finished, and the Beet Wagon continues its journey.

[Syt]

I suggest Cpt. Tamas upgrades the doors to blast doors, that will contain fires!

Whenever I get enough scrap parts  . . .

[Syt]

Jump 7

We've made it to the sector exit. A deactivated sentry hangs there. The temptation to search its datacores is tempting, but Cpt. Tamas decides to play it safe and just strip it off any useful scrap. We're down to 5 missiles and we have a feeling we may need them.


SECTOR JUMP

Faced with the choice between a jump to a hostile or to a civilian sector, the crew jointly decides to try their luck in civilian territory, hoping to be able to upgrade their ship and make quick progress.

What challenges might lie in store for the valiant crew?

[The Brain]

Is that a cross on the wall?  

[Syt]

 

[Razgovory]

So what is this?  Oregon Trail in space?

[Viking]

Is the crew from the Austrian version of



?

[CountDeMoney]

LOL, Beet Wagon.  NCC-170Stupid.

[Syt]

SECTOR 2


Jump 8

We arrive at a settled planet and are hailed by the inhabitants, asking if we would like to do some mercenary work. We're low on cash and missiles, so we accept.

They want us to dissuade, not kill, a bunch of pirates. We promise to do what we can.

We disable their ship with little damage to our own. They renounce their pirate ways and we're rewarded with Scrap parts and a Fire Bomb. It's a self-teleporting missile device that causes fires, damages eqipment and hurts people.

We hang around for some repairs before continuing our journey.


Jump 9

Brigands want to exact a toll from us. We politely refuse and power up our weapons and raise shields. Before we're ready, a direct hit to the med station causes a hull breach.

We destroy them, but we're out of missiles and our hull integrity is down to 50%. We need to pull into port somewhere and get patched up.

Alexandru and Mart fix the hull breach in medbay before bringing the first aid equipment back online.


Jump 10

Curses! We are ambushed by the 'dread pirate Tuco' in an otherwise empty system. With only our lasers, we do our best to resist!

Our lasers are unable to penetrate their shields. Our engines are hit, but Mart manages to bring them online soo enough to jump away from the hostiles and right to . . .


Jump 11

. . . another brigand exacting "way toll"! Come on!! At least his fee is lower than the previous one's. Grudgingly we pay. We're in no shape to resist.

We repair our shield system and Mart and Alexandru, hurt in the encounter with Tuco, are getting patched up in sickbay.


Jump 12

We find a ship almost wrecked by pirates. They're in need of scrap metal. We manage to get part of our hull repaired and buy three missiles.


Jump 13

Ancient battle debris orbits a gas giant. We scoop up some spare parts and fuel. We upgrade our navigational computers, increasing or evasion chances in combat.


Jump 14

We reach the beacon for the jump to the next sector. A federation loyalist settlement gives us spare parts and an Ion Blaster.

We're faced with either moving into the Zoltan Homeworlds Sector or into an uncharted nebula. We figure we stand better chances of losing our pursuers in the nebula . . .

[Syt]

SECTOR 3 - Uncharted Nebula

State of the ship:
- Hull at about 55%
- Fuel supply non-critical
- All systems online
- Little currency
- Few missiles

Priority: increasing energy output to keep all systems at peak efficiency.


Jump 15

The nebula blinds our sensors, even the internal ones. Initial scans show that the Rebels were expecting us to move here and may be prepared to intercept us. We have to move quickly!


Jump 16

We encounter a small rebel station with an robo-sentry in orbit. We could avoid them and press on. Or we could attack them and hope to find supplies on the station. Cpt. Tamas orders the attack.

The battle goes not as well as expected. Life support, sickbay and internal sensors are damaged, and the hull is down to 25%. With the internal sensors down, Tamas searches each room for hull breaches.

We get some scrap parts from the destroyed ship which we use to upgrade the reactor a bit.

The station turns out to be deserted. We find nothing of value.


Jump 17

We find a black market weapons trader hiding in the nebula. We don't have the cash for his illegal weaponry, and no means of attacking him, so we ignore him and press on.


Jump 18

The system is blissfully empty.


Jump 19

We come across trade depot on an asteroid. We sell our ion blaster. For the cash we buy the two missiles the depot has in store, some fuel and repair the hull to full integrity. The crew feels a bit better.


Jump 20

One more jump to the sector exit. The system is absolutely empty, so we press on.


Jump 21

The only exit from here leads to a Civilan Sector. We have no choice.

[Syt]

SECTOR 4 - Civilian Sector

We arrive in the outskirts of the nebula. Half the sector is still part of the nebula. Fearing pirates we plot a course out and into clear space.


Jump 22

A black market station is offering cheap missiles for scrap parts. As we used all our material to patch up the ship, we politely decline and travel onwards.


Jump 23

A damaged ship offers equipment and crew in exchange for scrap. We sell them our Fire Bomb and refuel and buy missiles. We would have liked to hire one of their crew, but their fee was too steep.


Jump 24

An unremarkable binary star system.


Jump 25

Another Rebel outpost with an automated sentry. This time we feel more re-assured as we attack.

We take them out with little trouble, but we're down two two missiles again. We find a decent amount of scrap and schematics for an anti-personnel drone. We don't have a drone control system, so we earmark it for sale.


Jump 26

A trade depot! We sell the drone plans and re-arm and refuel our ship.


Jump 27

We follow a distress signal only to find that it was a pirate's trap!

The pirate takes out our shields with a missile. Tamas hurries to repair them. The Burst Laser is offline, and Alexandru hastens to bring it back online.

Fire breaks out on the port side. Tamas decides to vent the section and orders Mart over to the shields to help with the repairs.

We take down the pirates' shields and weapons. They offer surrender and give us missiles, fuel and scrap.

We graciously accept and get on the repairs. There's a hull breach that needs taking care of. Alexandru is most experience with repairs by now and is sent to fix it.


Jump 28

Space pirates attack an unidentified ship. The pirates offer us a bribe to stay out of it. We're suspicious of their motifs, so we attack them.

Half way through the battle they offer a bribe again, but we refuse and salvage a decent amount of scrap.

The ship under attack turns out to be a Rebel scout. We decide to destroy it and salvage its components which we use to upgrade our shields.

We prepare to exit the sector.